In the world of sports, you sometimes have happenings that aren’t what they appear to be on the surface.

Take the recent trade the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Clippers pulled off.

The Pistons received a perennial All-Star forward in Blake Griffin, while giving up very little in return.

Now, Griffin is a legitimate inside player, one that any team in the NBA would love to have in the lineup.

The fact that the Clippers gave him up so easily, and for so little in return, does spark a few questions.

One, Griffin has missed several games over the past couple of seasons because of injuries. If he’s injury-prone at the age of 28, the Pistons may be getting damaged goods.

Two, Griffin signed a five-year, $171 million contract with the Clippers last year, vowing to be a lifelong member of the club. So, what happened?

If he’s healthy and ready to go, Griffin could be the key to improve the sluggish Pistons. Teamed with a good center in Andre Drummond, he certainly would give the team an added boost in just about every department.

But I’m not sure that coach Stan Van Gundy knows what to do with a club ready to go. He’s always been noted for building teams from the bottom up.

The Clippers are also rumored to be looking to unload some other big salaries on their roster. It could be they’re having a fire sale similar to that of the Detroit Tigers.

Speaking of the Tigers, they are now reportedly looking to ship third baseman Nick Castellanos.

Castellanos is one of the few remaining players left who has shown he can hit on a consistent basis.

Granted, Castellanos is a big liability on defense. But he could be used at designated hitter when Victor Martinez is resting up from whatever injury he’s nursing.

Or maybe at first base where slugger Miguel Cabrera has been losing lots of time because of injuries.

The plain, unvarnished truth is that Detroit GM Al Avila gave up too much talent in the last part of the season for the current edition to do much.

The team could easily be labeled the Toledo Tigers with all the rookies on the roster.

It’s going to be a long summer in Motown.